Sunday, July 31, 2016

He told police he answered the door with a gun in hand out of concern for his safety. As he opened the door, he said the suspect saw the gun and ran towards a nearby car. He said the suspect also produced a gun and fired it in his direction.

The homeowner told officers he returned fire with one shot apparently hitting the driver of the suspect's vehicle.

Police say a short time, the driver showed up at a Broken Arrow hospital suffering from a gunshot wound. They said he is expected to be OK. More Here

A year ago, Mike Strickland was beaten and ended in the hospital for several months. His cameras were stolen, then returned with the drives wiped. He has video of the attack, but the authorities refused to prosecute. Recently, Mike was threatened by a mob of anarchists and Black Lives Matter activists again. This time he protected himself.

Victoria Taft has written a well researched article, with video, that shows Mike Strickland defending himself from the mob in Portland. The link has it all. From victoriataft.com:

Mike Strickland was arrested and charged in Portland for pulling a gun at a Black Lives Matter/anarchist protest when a mob converged on him. But now he sits in jail. As one person put it, “[Mike Strickland] is now a political prisoner in Multnomah County.”

Showing how intolerant and censorious college campus administrators have become, he has been banned from two local campuses. From oregonlive.com:

Strickland, the man charged with waving a gun at protesters last week at a Don't Shoot PDX march, has been banned from Portland State and Portland Community College's campuses.

The two schools confirmed Wednesday that Strickland will not be allowed to set foot on campus if and when he is released from custody. Portland State is banning Strickland for two years. PCC's ban is indefinite, but Strickland could appeal the decision. Both schools informed Strickland of the ban last week.

So there you have it. Be beat and put in the hospital for months, with video proof. Have your creative work stolen/destroyed. Then have the authorities refuse to prosecute.

When you continue to exercise your First Amendment rights, you are threatened again. You refuse to be a victim. The authorities throw you in jail, with ridiculous bond requirements. James O'Keefe, from project Veritas, says the bond is set at $250,000. From projectveritas:

Mike Strickland is someone I know. I respect him because he makes little to no money going to these events trying to hold people accountable. He’s fought for both the First and Second Amendments for half a decade and he does so at great risk to himself.

I have become cynical over the years. This is outrageous. The local authorities will keep Mike jailed to prevent him from doing his citizen journalism. If I had been in Portland, I could easily have been in Mike's spot, so it hits close to home.

On August 8th a hearing is scheduled for the case of Ulissies Garcia et al v Kamala D. Harris( Case 2:16-cv-02572-BRO-AFM ) . The case concerns bill SB 707, which bans people with concealed carry permits from carrying on school grounds, but allows certain retired government employees to do so. The suit claims that the law violates the equal protection clause of the 14th amendment.
Here is the argument from The Firearm Policy Center in California:

FPF filed suit challenging SB 707, which divides law-abiding gun owners into two classes – and an upcoming hearing could have huge ramifications on the legislature’s ability to pass discriminatory anti-gun laws in the future.

SB 707 banned law-abiding, CCW-licensed individuals from carrying handguns for self-defense on “school grounds.” However, the law created an exemption some former government employees.

One man, Dr. Ulisses Garcia, was issued a license to carry in response to a threat of violence from a former patient. Since the passage of SB 707, Dr. Garcia is unable to lawfully carry his handgun when he attends his children’s school events or simply drops them off in the morning. But this law applies differently to people who have worked in different professions, and those people don’t have to make that choice.

C. The AWCA’s Provisions Regarding Off-Duty Police
Officers Do Not Offend The Fourteenth Amendment;
However, There Is No Rational Basis For the Retired
Officer Exemption.
Plaintiffs contend that the privileges that are afforded to
off-duty and retired peace officers under the AWCA violate
the Equal Protection Clause of the Fourteenth Amendment to
the Constitution. Specifically, they contend that the pertinent
provisions afford benefits to off-duty and retired officers that
are unavailable to the plaintiffs, and that there is no rational
reason that they and other law-abiding citizens should be
treated differently than off-duty and retired peace officers.53

For good or ill, the rational basis argument that has developed in the courts is absurdly simple to meet. Generally stated, if the legislature can make a statement that sounds reasonable (it does not have to meet any proof that it *is* reasonable), the standard is met. AG Kamala Harris exploits that interpretation of the rational basis standard. Kamala Harris' arguments are briefly summarized below.

There is no Second Amendment right to carry on School Grounds;

Allowing retired peace officers to carry has a rational basis;

That the state can confer special privileges on retired police officers, because there is no comparable group to them;

That no equal protection applies, because of the above;

She argues that the plaintiffs have no standing because they are not arguing to be allowed to carry in schools, but only to prevent retired police officers from being allowed to carry.

The brief from the AG's office cites cases to make these arguments.

The judge in this case is Beverly Reid O'Connell. She was appointed by President Barak Obama in 2013. Some of President Obama's appointees have made surprising decisions that limit government power.

The hearing is scheduled for 8 August, at 1:30 p.m. in the US District Court for the Central District of California, Western Division (Los Angeles), in courtroom 14.

I would like to paint a rosy picture about the chances to overturn SB 707. The odds are against it. Inequality in the law for retired police officers exists across the nation. It would be a large step to overturn it. It is possible that this case will be heard instead of dismissed. The odds are that it will be dismissed on August 8th.

Judge O’Connell’s August 5 order held that the plaintiffs and retied peace officers are “sufficiently similarly situated to establish an equal protection claim” under the Equal Protection Clause. But, the Court held, review of “the Retired Peace Officer Exemption does not trigger heightened Scrutiny” because the “only group the Act treats differently is retired peace officers based on their status as former law enforcements officers.”

The Court’s order said that “the government interest here is one of private protection and self-defense” for the retired government employees, and, “[t]herefore, allowing retired peace officers an exemption from the general ban of carrying concealed weapons on school property is rationally related to the legitimate state interest of ensuring their protection.”

In its conclusion, the Court found that the Plaintiffs’ claim that the Retired Peace Officer Exemption is unconstitutional under the Equal Protection Clause cannot be cured by amendment because so long as the government has an interest in protecting retired peace officers, it will survive rational basis scrutiny.”

Saturday, July 30, 2016

An Ohio man with a concealed carry permit was presented an award this week for saving a Mount Vernon police officer who was being attacked by a suspect.

Cpl. Michael Wheeler of Ohio’s Mount Vernon Police Department recounted Wednesday an incident last year when he was attacked by a homeless crystal meth addict. Cpl. Wheeler said the suspect knocked him onto his back and pinned him to the ground, The Federalist reported.

Now five months pregnant, she said she was taking matters into her own
hands when she shot a man who police say was trying to break into her
house overnight.

"I thank God that I had protection 'cause if I
didn't, you never know what could have happened,” Turner said. “This was
my first time pointing and shooting. I never been to a gun range. I
never went to target practice or anything. I was just, at the time,
protecting myself.”

She said she got the pink Millennium 9 pistol two years ago for protection.

Jefferson Parish Sheriff's Office detectives arrested one suspect
and are searching for a person of interest in connection with the armed robbery of the Lamplighter Lounge in Metairie. Sheriff Newell Normand also noted that an armed patron shot at the robber after the suspect pointed a gun at him.

America does not really have a "gun violence" problem. America has a violent urban black culture problem. If you want to look at the numbers more closely, you can add in a violent illegal immigrant problem.

There is a common theme that has become an Internet cliché when a young black man is shot and killed in the middle of a violent crime.

"He was such a nice boy."

"He was turning his life around."

"He was an aspiring rap star."

"They didn't have to shoot him."

It is refreshing when the mother of a young black man shot in the commission of a crime admits, after the tragic death of her son, that it was his own fault.

That is what happened when Devon Martes was shot and killed by a Jefferson Parish Sheriff deputy last week. You cannot help but feel sympathy for a woman who has lost two of her five sons in violent shooting deaths in the last eight years. Devon was the youngest of eleven children.

"Devon was a really kind person but he just got himself caught up in too much stuff," Martes said of her son. "He really wasn't a bad boy, but he put himself in that situation. He put himself in harm's way."

Of the deputies, she said: "They had to do what they had to do."

Sheriff Newell Normand at a press conference listed Martes' criminal record, which, starting at the age of 10, includes shoplifting, distribution of drugs, trespassing, and attempted armed robbery.

(snip)

"He had brand new tennis shoes he never put on. There's no reason for you to do this," she said. "You got a momma and a dad. That's one blessing right there. We work, we come home. We work, we come home and we take care of them. We just took them Sunday to Gulfport, to the Gulf Island Water Park."

New Orleans has one of the highest murder rates in the country. Young male humans are risk takers and adventurers by nature. Evolutionists see it as the legacy of the killer ape. Christians see it as original sin. If you look at places with high violent death rates across the world, they occur in places where the rule of law is not dependable. It is the default position of the human experience. It is the natural state of affairs.

Alesia Martes speaks of of how she attempted to teach her youngest son from the example of his older brothers violent death.

"Devon took Brandon's death real hard," Martes said. "But he loved them streets. I said, 'Devon, you have to stop being out there. Don't you see what happened to your brother? Didn't this wake y'all up?' But he was hardheaded. They're just hard to deal with, those teenagers."

It takes a lot of work and faith and trust to build a culture to the point where young men trust the rule of law more than their own instincts and weapons. It is not easy, but it can be done. Most of America and Western Civilization have done it, over the last 400 years.

It is almost impossible to reduce this violence if crime offers an easy payout not far from the front door. That can only be stopped if a large majority of the community cooperate with the authorities, and reject crime as a valid career choice. That rejection of crime has to be built into the communities DNA. It has to become a cliche that crime does not pay.

We are being told, daily, that violence in black urban areas is the fault of the police. Actually, it is a fault that comes from too much distrust of the police. The urban black crime centers need more police, and more active policing. That can help reduce the violence. But the crime rates will not come down to levels we know are possible until the citizens in those areas realize that the police are part of the solution, and not the problem. When that happens, fewer police will be necessary.

A false narrative has been created that the police are part of the problem. It might have been true 50, even 40, perhaps, in spots, as late as 30 years ago. It is more likely that even then, the problem was neglect of proper policing, and corrupt policing, instead of too much policing. It is not true any longer.

It is time for the the black community to reject the easy blame game of the race hustlers who push the police and the "system" as the problem. Those who reject responsibility for their own communities are pushing for young black men to reject civilization and choose the path of the streets. The black urban culture has to embrace responsibility and the idea that bad choices produce bad ends.

Only then can the black urban culture start the long climb to reach the same level of peaceful existence that most of the rest of America enjoys. It will not be easy, but it can be done.

Alisia Martes shows that the base of that acceptance of responsibility is out there. She shows it when she says "he put himself in harms way". It is a start, but more is required. When the Internet cliché changes from "he was turning his life around" to "he put himself in harms way", we will know that we are moving in the correct direction. When a gun is seen as means of defense against criminals, and not as a tool of a criminal career, we will be moving in the right direction.

Guns in the hands of peaceful, responsible black people are part of the solution. When black people see that they are trusted with the same level of responsibility as is the rest of society, it helps build a community of mutual trust. When armed black men and police see each other as allies instead of adversaries, we will have started to win the war.

On 16 July, a homeowner in Chicopee, Massachusetts was confronted with three men who were attempting to break into his house. It was an hour past noon, in broad daylight. He called the police to report the attempted break in. He tried to get them to leave, but one persisted in pounding on the door. When the would be intruder broke glass, he shot one shot through the door. That intruder died. It turned out that the intruder was 15 years old and had been illegally drinking with his two friends. Afterwards, the surviving young men claimed they were "confused".

The homeowner was charged with first degree murder.

In San Antonio, Texas, a remarkably similar circumstance happened on 21 July, at about 10 a.m. In this case a man is attempting to break into the house. The homeowner is there with his wife. They call the police to report the attempted break in. The tell the intruder to leave. The intruder continues to pound on the door. The intruder breaks the door handle. The homeowner shoots through the door, and the intruder dies. It sounds very similar.

An intruder, or in Massachusetts, three intruders, attempt to break into a house in broad daylight. The homeowner calls police and demands that the intruders leave. They continue to pound on the door. One breaks glass, the other breaks the door handle. Both homeowners shoot through the door, and one intruder in each case dies. But Texas is not Massachusetts. Instead of being charged with first degree murder, the homeowner is congratulated. From mysanantonio.com:

Authorities arrived at the 9700 block of Autumn Dew around 10 a.m. after the homeowner and his wife, who is in her late 60s, called police to report that a man was attempting to break into their home.

SAPD spokesperson Douglas Greene said the elderly man pleaded with the attempted intruder to stop his efforts to get into the couple's home, but the man continued to force his way into the home, eventually breaking the door handle.

(snip)

Greene commended the elderly man on his response to the situation — first calling police, informing authorities he had a gun in his home and then making attempts to stave the would-be intruder's attempts to enter his home.

There are some differences. in Massachusetts the three intruders were drunken teens. We do not know the toxicology on the 42 year old intruder in Texas, but he was a big guy. Three drunken teens who break down your door are at least as much a potential threat as a 42 year old man. In Massachusetts the homeowner was alone. He is 42 years old. In Texas the homeowner was 78, with his wife. He is reported to be a retired special forces colonel.

The difference is primarily one of law and culture. The law in Texas protects homeowners rights to defense of self and home better than nearly all other states. Massachusetts has weaker protections than nearly all other states.

In Texas, the Sheriff's office commended the homeowner. In Massachusetts the DA charged him with first degree murder.

The population of the United States is highly mobile. A person may find themselves moving from state to state with some frequency. Study the law of self defense for the state that you are in. While the laws change, changes in the laws of defense of self and property seldom occur more often than once a decade.

Access to the Internet has made this research fairly simple. If you own a firearm, it is worth your time to spend the few minutes that it takes to know your local laws.

A grand jury has cleared a 33-year-old Southeast Portland woman of any criminal wrongdoing for fatally shooting a stranger that she discovered in her 10-year-old daughter's bedroom last month.

Tara-Alexis Ford fired one bullet into David Daniel McCrary, 59, a Gresham resident who police said might have been suffering from some mental illness when he broke into Ford's home near Southeast 122nd Avenue and Holgate Street in the Powellhurst-Gilbert neighborhood.More Here

Friday, July 29, 2016

MILWAUKEE —A Milwaukee man who was shot multiple times during a 2002 home invasion said he felt he had no choice but to start shooting at a thief who pointed a gun at him while his car was being stolen.

Still, Mario Dickens could face charges for opening fire outside his graphics and design company on Monday evening.

The Swiss have always had a lot of guns and significant freedom. Machiavelli noted it in "The Prince" in 1517:

“Moreover, a Republic trusting to her own forces, is with greater difficulty than one which relies on foreign arms brought to yield obedience to a single citizen. Rome and Sparta remained for ages armed and free. The Swiss are at once the best armed and the freest people in the world.”

The Swiss have remained one of the best armed countries in the world since then. Many claim they escaped most of the ravages of WWII because of their citizen army. Switzerland is said not to "have an army" but "be an army". The current spate of terrorist attacks in Europe has reinforced Swiss' love of arms. Because of their universal training and weaponry, Switzerland has the largest potential army in Europe. 1.5 million men capable of bearing arms, who have the arms and ammunition and training. The Swiss are buying even more guns. From usatoday.com:

GENEVA — Business at Daniel Wyss’ gun shop has been brisk lately in the village of Burgdorf near Switzerland’s capital of Bern.

He said the increased demand for firearms is triggered by a growing fear among the Swiss public that terrorists could attack their tranquil land at any time.

As nations around Europe tighten their gun laws after a series of terror attacks in several countries since 2015, the Swiss are bucking this trend by turning to firearms for protection.

Official statistics show that gun sales in some parts of Switzerland soared nearly 50% after last year’s attacks in Paris and the March bombings in Brussels. And gun sales continue to grow since the killings in France and Germany in the past two weeks.

In Wyss’ shop, “the demand for pistols, revolvers and pump-action guns rose by 30% to 50% after this month’s attacks in Nice and Munich,” he told USA TODAY.

USA Today cannot help but throw in some anti-Second Amendment propaganda, which is blatantly misleading:

Even though guns are prevalent, the violent crime rate is relatively low: about 7.7 firearm homicides a year per 1 million people, according to Human Development Index. In the United States, that number is nearly 30, one of the highest in the world.

First, the mind trick is to only look at "gun deaths". That is insane. If reducing the number of guns increases other deaths, or makes no difference, what is the point of the policy of reducing guns?

Second, the author parrots the blatant lie: the US has one of the highest gun death numbers in the world, at 30 per million. It is quickly rebuted in the comments. Even using the biased, silly comparison of "gun deaths", many countries have rates that are much higher than the United States. Jamaica, Brazil, Mexico, Albania, Thailand, the Philippines. Many countries do not separate out "gun homicides" such as Russia. From usatoday.com:

Uh, IDIOT, the U.S. does not have the "highest firearm homicide rate in the world". Or more importantly, the highest MURDER rate. Unless of course you think some one killed by "gunviolence" is MORE DEAD than, say, the priest that was BEHEADED in France today. You might look at the socialist utopia of Venezuela for the "highest murder rate in the world". PS, only the GOVERNMENT and CRIMINALS can have gunz there.Like · Reply · 6 · Jul 26, 2016 4:16pm

Of course, if you take out gun violence generated by gang violence, the United States would be removed from the list, as a majority of our gun homicides are due to gang violence.

It is easy to create the statistics that you want. Change the definitions until you get the numbers that fit your agenda. In this case, count only homicides committed with a gun. Then eliminate most countries that make your comparison look bad by arbitrarily finding ways to ignore them. Then ignore the populations from those high violence countries that are in the United states.

The Swiss went through a dangerous period over the last 20 years. Socialists and pacifists pushed hard to disarm the country. They did not succeed, but they pushed through much more restrictive laws than had existed prior to 1998. Military reservists no longer keep their ammunition at home. Full auto rifles require a permit.

It appears the Swiss are re-discovering the advantages of an armed society. They always had them. Events are sharpening their appreciation.

On January 26th, 2016, at about 6 p.m., a woman was attacked in a parking garage in Louisville, Kentucky. The man who attacked her had a knife, and demanded "everything you have". He turned out to be an addict. The attack occurred as the woman was seated in the driver's seat of her car. She had placed her purse on the passenger seat. Unknown to the assailant, she had a Beretta Tomcat in her purse. From wlky.com:

"And I thought he was going to kill me because he was pushing the
knife toward me and before I could talk, my purse was in the passenger
seat and he hit me on my left cheek," the victim said.

The Tomcat is chambered for the .32 ACP round. It is sometimes favored by women because it is compact and has a tip-up barrel design that allows it to be loaded without requiring the slide to be pulled back.

Some people have difficulty pulling back the slide on semi-auto pistols. The Tomcat is a double action/single action pistol, so it can be safely carried with a round in the chamber. The first pull on the trigger both cocks the hammer and releases it. If the first hammer strike does not set off the round in the chamber, another pull on the trigger will result in a second hammer strike. Sometimes a second strike will be sufficient to set off a hard primer. I have had it happen, but it is rare. It may have happened in this case. From wlky.com:

Investigators said in January, John Ganobick attempted to rob a woman with a knife.

She shot him, and later told police she thought Ganobick would kill her.

In an emotional interview, the woman said she pulled the trigger to save her life.

"And the first time I pulled, nothing happened. And he put his hand harder on my mouth and shoved the knife towards my face and then I shot again," the victim said.

That time, the bullet hit its target.

That first shot appears to have hit Ganobick in the neck. The woman is reported to have fired four or five shots. Ganobick was hit twice. Other women who used the garage were interviewed. This was a common response. From wlky.com in January:

While charges are pending against him, many are praising the woman who took control of a scary situation.

"You have to protect yourself, being vulnerable, being a woman, you have to really protect yourself, I felt like it was justified," said Pam Stiger, who lives in Louisville.

I usually recommend against off body carry, but it worked in this case. I do not see many cases where second strike capability was needed and or worked. Modern ammunition is extremely reliable. Perhaps it was foreign military 7.65x17, the metric designation for the .32 ACP. I ran some FN military 7.65x17 through a Tomcat that I had, and it worked. Others have said that some of the military 7.65x17 may have hard primers. It might even have been a handload. If the primer is not completely seated, the first strike will sometimes seat the primer, allowing the second strike to fire it.

Detectives said when Peterson entered the victim’s property, he took a gun and fired one shot at the intruder. “The man was obviously trying to get into the home because he barged his way into the home,” said Carter. “His end game was to get into the home. He did so. At that point, shots were fired.”

According to detectives, the suspect died at the scene. “The person who lived in the home was obviously confronted by this person,” Carter said. “He barged inside the home and subsequently died inside the home.”More Here

Swanton said that person, who was not identified, came out of the apartment with a handgun after the woman said that her common-law husband was armed with knives. Cazarez spotted his common-law wife and started to move toward her, Swanton said.

“The individual who came to the common-law wife’s aid told the suspect Cazarez numerous times to stop,” Swanton said in a statement. “Cazarez continued at the individual and the common-law wife in a threatening manner and refused commands to stop. Cazarez was telling the individual to shoot him.”

ST. ALBANS - A homeowner discovered a burglary in progress while he was home last week, and he fired his gun into the front of the suspect's truck as the person fled, St. Albans police said in a news release Monday.

Police have applied for a warrant to arrest Gary J. Campbell, 36, of Swanton in connection with the incident, police said Monday. Police are expecting Campbell will be charged with burglary and reckless endangerment.More Here

The neighbors said in the past the dogs have tried to bite them, and used the bathroom on their porch, but that night, they claim the dog was in their yard chasing one of their chickens.

“If any animal threatening you, you have some fear for your well-being. You are able to discharge your weapon and shoot the animal,” said Bob Citrullo, executive director of the Humane Educational Society.More Here

Police said they suspect then ran to the back of the business, and one of the suspects pointed toward the customer as if he had a weapon. The customer then fired his weapon, striking Adams in the right thigh.

Dunlap said Adams ran a short distance but fell to the ground. The other suspect fled from the scene on foot, heading toward the Family Dollar business nearby.

The police report released Monday, the Paducah Sun reports, said authorities are investigating charges against John Grabinski, 64, of Ozark, Ill., who reportedly pulled a gun on John Hempen, 38, of Paducah, during a fight that broke out during the showing of “Star Trek Beyond” around noon Saturday.

The report listed two potential misdemeanor charges against Grabinski: fourth-degree assault and menacing. Officers had not made any arrests Monday, instead forwarding the case to the McCracken County Attorney’s Office.

Dale County Sheriff’s Chief Deputy Mason Bynum said law enforcement caught Scott around 9 p.m. Friday. He said Scott was found at the hunting cabin after the couple who owned it arrived to check on it Friday evening.

“They held him at gunpoint and they fired off a few rounds because he wasn’t being compliant,” Bynum said. “Then he got on the ground.”

Bynum said the couple held Scott at gunpoint until law enforcement arrived, and took him into custody without incident. No one was injured.More Here

“One male suspect was injured when he and the homeowner exchanged gun fire. That suspect was transported to VCU Medical Center by Med-flight. The homeowner and his family were not injured in this incident,” a Amelia County Sheriff’s Office spokesperson said. “The second suspect immediately fled the scene in an unknown vehicle prior to the Sheriff’s Office arrival.”More Here

Charleston Department of Public Safety officers responded to a report of a person shot at 307 Naomi St., where they found Christopher Flannigan, 28, of Charleston dead from what appeared to be a gunshot wound, according to a news release from Charleston DPS director Bob Hearnes.

The suspected shooter was at the scene and was taken into custody, Hearnes wrote. Charleston police investigated the homicide with Missouri State Highway Patrol troopers and have determined the evidence shows the shooter acted in self-defense, according to the release. More Here

HAZLETON — Two men shot each other on a narrow city street Monday night during an attempted robbery, police say.

Officers responded at 9:49 p.m. to the 1000 block of North Manhattan Court for a report of a shooting. Upon arrival, they found that there had been an exchange of gunfire between two males, both of whom sustained non life-threatening wounds.More Here

Thursday, July 28, 2016

In a high crime area near New Orleans, a Jefferson Parish Sheriff's Office Deputy is involved in a shooting just before midnight on July 26, 2016. In the video of the shooting, it appears to be completely justified.

The deputy has his pistol drawn, or draws it just as he enters. He is using a two handed hold and has his light on. Prior to seeing the deputy, we see the suspect enter the warehouse. It appears that the suspect considered taking out the pistol, a Beretta with an extended magazine, and leaving it, then changes his mind.

The deputy exercises good tactical sense by going wide around the corner of what may be an office on the right side of the picture frame. The suspect is approaching the corner from the right side. It is likely that they see each other at about the same time, about 8 yards apart.

The deputy brings his pistol to bear first. He may well have shouted a command to drop the weapon. The suspect brings the Beretta to eye level, and the deputy fires. The suspect attempts to bring the Beretta to bear again, but the deputy continues to fire and the suspect goes down. The deputy then demonstrates reasonable caution by approaching the suspect using the corner as cover.

The Sheriff says that the suspect tried to kill the deputy, but was unable to fire the Beretta. From nola.com:

"Devon Martes tried to kill one of my officers," Normand said,
referring to the 17-year-old man who was killed. "Devon Martes is not
the victim. The victim in this case is Deputy Dave Dalton."

The sequence in the video varies a little from the statement given at nola.com, but not enough to change the legality or justification for the shooting.

The deputy fired six shots.

The Beretta in the possession of the suspect had an
extended magazine. It appears that it was loaded with 22 rounds.

The Sheriffs says they believe the Beretta
malfunctioned.

Looking at the picture of the Beretta, there are several possibilities for malfunctions.

Was a round
chambered? It is a common mistake for inexperienced shooters not to
chamber a round. Having taught hundreds of beginners, many have no idea
that they have to rack the slide to chamber a round. Many think
inserting the magazine is sufficient.

Was the safety on? It is in the picture.
Law enforcement protocols call for not moving the safety on a piece of evidence without noting
it. On the Beretta, it is not necessary to move the safety to work the action.

An examination of the 22 9mm rounds in the picture shows that six of them appear to have primer hits, all five on the right hand row, and the round with the nickled primer on the left. They are likely duds. If one of those were chambered, it is another potential point of failure. My experience with extended magazines is that I generally avoid them, especially after market versions. But as no rounds were fired from the Beretta, we cannot fault the magazine in this case.

One thing we do not know is what prompted Martes to proceed toward a likely gun fight, or to initiate one. All of the hype about "racist" police and the recent police assassinations may have encouraged him to initiate the gun fight.

We can never know for sure. We do know that a young black man made some very bad decisions that ended with his death.

While many Democrats usually preface their calls for greater gun control with a half-hearted sop toward the Second Amendment, we all know they'd simply rather confiscate all guns. So here's a look at the current Democrat platform on the issue compared with the previous four. See a difference?

2000: "A shocking level of gun violence on our streets and in our schools has shown America the need to keep guns away from those who shouldn't have them — in ways that respect the rights of hunters, sportsmen, and legitimate gun owners."

2004: "We will protect Americans' Second Amendment right to own firearms."

2008: "We recognize that the right to bear arms is an important part of the American tradition, and we will preserve Americans' Second Amendment right to own and use firearms."

2012: "We recognize that the individual right to bear arms is an important part of the American tradition, and we will preserve Americans' Second Amendment right to own and use firearms."

2016: "While responsible gun ownership is part of the fabric of many communities, too many families in America have suffered from gun violence. We can respect the rights of responsible gun owners while keeping our communities safe."

That's right. This year's platform doesn't even bother to mention the words "Second Amendment," hearkening back to 2000. Drafters opted instead for the meaningless tripe about how "gun ownership is a part of the fabric of many communities." Fabric can be changed. Rights endowed by our Creator cannot.

“We’ve got to understand this situation with these guns is not unlike climate change, it’s not unlike banning tobacco – restriction,” Ellison said on the Breaking Through program on We Act Radio last week.

“It’s not unlike trying to restrict lead. Big industry making money off a particular activity that’s harmful to the public and they lie about it so they can preserve their profits and they spread campaign donations around to loyal members of Congress that will protect their financial interests - that is what’s happening here.”

Ellison said that gun manufacturers are profiting off of shootings, “Here’s the awful truth, whenever these horrible shootings happen people go out and buy these guns, because they think: One, they could be banned and they want to stockpile them, or two, they are afraid of being shot so they think the answer is to go buy a gun, so these sales explode.”

“So companies like H&K, Mossberg , Glock, Winchester, Smith & Wesson they make all kinds of sales when these things happen they are literally making a killing on killing,” Ellison said.

An Oregon Episcopal church man has won a rifle at a raffle to benefit a girls softball team. He wanted very much to destroy that rifle. The Girls' softball team and the rifle's manufacturer, were smiling all the way to the bank. It was a win-win-win.

When Jeremy Lucas, a reverend at the Christ Church Episcopal Parish in Lake Oswego, won an AR-15 rifle in a local raffle he was overjoyed.

Not because he had any plans for hunting or target practice, but because, even though he had spent roughly $3,000 on raffle tickets, he planned to destroy the gun.

The raffle was done by a girls softball team to raise money for expenses. From wweek.com:

An area softball team is raffling off an AR-15 rifle to raise money to compete in a California tournament later this month.

For $20 a ticket, 15 girls from Centennial, Gresham, and Milwaukie high
schools are hoping that the rifle raffle earns them the $6,000 they
need to represent Oregon at the West Regional Tournament in Lancaster,
Calif., July 23-27.

With Lucas' church money, the team raised just short of $10,000. Rifle raffles are very popular, and tend to be successful. There would be no reason to turn down Lucas church money. Cash is cash. A rifle is a rifle. If you buy it, they will make more!

Reverend Lucas is quoted. The quote manages to place many conceptual falsehoods in one sentence.

"Even if it's one gun out of a million, it's one less for someone to hurt someone else or themselves with."

But that is conceptually false. Rifles are not irreplacable. Manufacturers have been operating at full speed for the entire span of the Obama presidency. Detroying one rifle simply means that another will be made by a manufacturer, and that manufacturer will make more profit.

Lucas is doing something else. He is engaged in a morality play, where he is the good guy and the rifle is the evil thing. It is the deodand concept from medieval Europe. It makes him feel morally superior, but to most people he simply looks foolish. At least in medieval Europe, the Church kept to money or sold the item to benefit the poor.

So, win-win-win-win. The softball team wins. The rifle manufacturer wins. Lucas is able to feel morally superior. He wins. Second Amendment supporters win as well. This sort of silly moral posturing does not play well with most Americans.

Rifles, as a matter of fact and FBI statistics, are the type of firearm least used to murder people. And this type of rifle is exactly the type that should be most protected by the Constitution, it is a perfect example of a militia rifle. As a long gun, it makes a great home defense gun. The AR15 type of rifle has become the most popular rifle in the United States.

Gun manufacturers are having a hard time keeping them on store shelves. When Lucas buys a rifle to destroy it, he insults the intelligence of a hundred million Americans. Perhaps a couple million will applaud him.

Lucas may believe that rifles are not used for anything constructive, but that is false. He is free to practice his religion and make his moral statements, because men with rifles protect him.

Massachusetts Attorney General Maura Healy's unconstitutional gun ban last week may have played well to the gun ban crowd in the Democrat party. She took a moment of national anger over the assassinations of police officers to push her personal anti-Second Amendment policies, while the legislature was not in session. Dozens of legislators were not amused. From wbur.org:

Angered by her announcement last week that her office will step up its enforcement of the state's assault weapons ban, a bipartisan group of 58 lawmakers sent Attorney General Maura Healey a letter over the weekend opposing "in the strongest possible terms" her decision and the way she announced it.

Healey last week announced that she will crack down on enforcement of the state's 1998 assault weapons ban, specifically focusing on what she called "copycat" versions or duplicates of firearms banned under that law.

This is partly how checks and balances are supposed to work. The legislators are jealous of their power. They openly say so. They say
that if Healy had come to them, acknowledged their power, and asked,
they might well have accommodated her.

But, that is not the way she wanted to work it.

Healy's diktat is a completely new "interpretation" of settled law that has been
in place for 18 years, 22 years if you include the Clinton "assault
weapon" law the Massachusetts law mirrored, before the Clinton national
ban sun set.

AG Healy created a whole new set of gun bans. She set off a frenzy of buying of the very rifles she claims are so dangerous. Massachusetts dealers reported record levels of rifle buying. From commonwealthmagazine.org:

According to data from the state Firearms Records Bureau, gun enthusiasts bought 2,549 rifles on Wednesday, the same day Healey announced that her office would rigidly enforce a 1998 law that prohibits the sale of specific semi-automatic guns such as AK-47s and AR-15s, as well as “copies or duplicates of the weapons.” By contrast, 132 of the guns were sold on Tuesday and just 51 on Monday. About 10,000 of the guns were sold in 2015.

The purchases were in defiance of an order issued by Healey that none of the guns could be sold in Massachusetts after Tuesday. Now Healey, whose intent was to get rid of the weapons, finds herself in the awkward position of trying to undo a run on what she has called “weapons of war” after they’ve already been sold.

It appears that Second Amendment supporters did some voting with their pocket books. Hundreds also appeared at the state capitol, protesting the dictatorial conduct by Healy. That might have added a bit to the legislative zeal.

Legislators do not like to be treated as if they are irrelevant. It will be interesting to see if the legislators find a creative way to let their displeasure be known.

Escaped inmate Jeffrey Scott was taken into custody in Coffee County Friday night after being on the run since last month.

According to Dale County Chief Deputy Mason Bynum, the owner of a hunting cabin on County Road 141, which is near the Coffee-Dale county line, went to check on his property Friday night and found Scott inside.

Dr. Dre is an extremely successful business man and music mogul. He has built an empire on music, video, movies, and a sale to Apple. He may have a net worth of over a billion dollars. He is the black man in handcuffs in the white t-shirt. Seem bizarre? So is the story. A person who is unnamed claims that Dr. Dre displayed a gun while asking him to leave. Dr. Dre has a different version of events. From cnsnews.com:

Dre, whose real name is Andre Young, told sheriff's deputies he didn't have a gun and that the man was blocking his driveway. He says the man moved his car but parked nearby. He says the man drove off after Dre recorded video of him.

Dre was briefly handcuffed while deputies investigated. No weapon was found at the scene, but deputies say the man initiated a citizen's arrest for misdemeanor brandishing a firearm.

More information was available at atlantablackstar.com. Everyone is hyped about threats to black men and to police officers. The last month has been a media frenzy following to police shooting of two black men and the assassinations of eight police officers. This situation was handled with a minimum of muss or fuss. From atlantablackstar.com:

Officers say the music producer was cooperative and consented to the search. He denied all allegations of the gun, informing police the man was parked directly in front of his driveway and blocking him in. The rapper asked him to leave – and he did – but immediately came back and parked in almost the exact same spot at the median in front of the home. Dre pulled out a cellphone to record what was going on and then the man drove off. Pigeons and Planes reported that even though no weapon was found, the driver filed a police report. The case will go to the District Attorney, who will then decide if there is a legitimate case against the hip-hop artist. Dre said the driver had previously engaged in a road-rage-type incident on the highway and followed him home, according to an LA Times source close to the investigation.

There is a video at atlantablackstar.com that shows some of the handcuffing.

At first glance, it appears as though the police overreacted. A simple allegation by someone about a gun, and the police handcuff and search you at your home?

It fits into the idea that "California has gone crazy on guns so I expect the police there to ignore
the Constitution, no matter a person's color".

But I think something a bit more clever may be going on. Dr. Dre is a very successful business man, known in the community. Maybe he has a problem with a stalker/fan.

But the police cannot just give him the name of someone who accused him, if there is no case. And the police have no case. They know that. Instead they talk to Dr. Dre about it. If he consents to a limited search outside of his home, (it appears it was just outside he property line) the police can truthfully report that they searched and did not find any firearm. That means absent other witnesses or video, the "brandishing case" is kaput. It is a "he said" "she said" and the police report comes down on Dr. Dre's side.Now for the clever bit. The person who complained has filed a "citizens arrest" report. This makes that person an official accuser.

The whole thing will be thrown out. But with an official complaint, doesn't Dr. Dre have the right to know the name of his accuser? Maybe Dr. Dre will be able to obtain a restraining order.

There is another cynical, off the wall, possibility. Dr. Dre is in the entertainment industry. That industry lives off of media attention. Dr. Dre's situation just created millions of dollars worth of media attention.

While various pundits and scholars have claimed that more guns equal more murders, the raw numbers reveal that to be untrue. The graph above plots the per capita firearms rate in the United States (stated as number of firearms per 10 people) against the murder rate as tabulated in the FBI Uniform Crime Reports (UCR). The UCR includes both murder and non-negligent homicide in the murder numbers. The UCR murder rate is per 100,000 people in the United States.

The murder rate may be one of the most reliable numbers in the UCR, because murders are more likely to be reported than any other crime. There is a body, and usually an investigation. Other crime numbers are less certain. I have not found numbers for the UCR murder rate from 1945 to 1950, but a source, "Violence in America", by Gurr, states that the rate was fairly steady at about 5.8 per 100,000 in the 40s. The numbers could be measured from the next graph, but it would involve some measurement error. If the 45-49 numbers become available, I will use them in an updated chart.

Using the 65 years of data on the chart, the calculated correlation coefficient is a negative .1274, showing essentially no correlation.

The per capita firearms rate builds on work done by Newton and Zimring, then Gary Kleck. From 1950 to 1987, the data was taken from "Point Blank: Guns and
Violence in America" by Gary Kleck, Table 2.1.

The methodology used by Newton and Zimring, and then Kleck,was applied to the figures obtained from the ATF for later
years. The number shown is the cumulative addition of domestic
manufacture plus imports minus exports. This does not count guns
shipped to the U.S. military. Per capita numbers are calculated using the population figures from the U.S. Census.

There was as similar rise and fall in murder rates from about 1900 to 1958. Initial rates are not as clear nationally in the early years. Reporting was spotty before 1905. 5 murders per 100,000 range seems reasonable for the start. Then the rate rises to 9.7 in 1933. The rate then starts the long decline to a minimum of 4.0 in 1958.

During that period, the per capita firearms were likely well below the .35 level calculated for 1945 by Newton and Zimring. Those numbers are not available by year, so we cannot calculate a correlation coefficient. If we could, it is clear that the results be similar to those from 1950 to 2014. That is a large rise and a large fall in the murder rate, against a steadily rising per capita number of firearms. Newton and Zimring calculated an increase of 47 million firearms added to the private stock from 1900 to 1945.

This reinforces the finding that the per capita number of firearms has little to do with the murder rate.

However, the number of firearms routinely carried for self defense might have an inverse relationship with the murder rate.

One intriguing note about the fall of the homicide rate from 1933 to 1958 is the high percentage of justifiable homicides that occurred at about the same time as the peak of 1933.

I am aware of two studies that separated out homicide motives during this period. Those were noted in Violence in America, by Gurr. The first study was done on Detroit data, by Boudouris. Gurr writes that both studies showed high percentages of justified homicides, but does not state the numbers.

Boudouris found that Detroit from 1926 - 1934 had the highest homicide rate in the country. He found that the largest percentage of those homicides were non-criminal or justifiable homicides by police officers or private citizens.

An analysis of 883 homicides in Chicago for the years 1926-1927 showed a similar pattern. Like Detroit, a large percentage of homicides during this period were justifiable.

Shootings in 1926-1933 may have been more deadly, due to lack of antibiotics and advanced surgery techniques.

These studies were independent of FBI statistics and did not use the extremely restricted and arcane Uniform Crime Report definition of a justified homicide.

The recent rise in justified homicides along with the increase in concealed
carry permits and legal doctrines such as "stand your ground" and
"castle doctrine" has been noted in several places. These reforms coincide well with the drop in the murder rate from 1991 to 2014. Shall issue concealed carry reform started in 1987, and has continued through the entire 1991 - 2014 period, with the bulk of the reforms occurring after 1993. This is the same period with the sustained drop in the murder rate.

The FBI UCR only catches about 10 to 20 percent of justified homicides, as confirmed by several studies.

The temporal match of the drop in murder rate with a spottily reported rise in justifiable homicides coincides well with John Lott's thesis of "More Guns, Less Crime".

Tuesday, July 26, 2016

Authorities said the driver of the van waited for the victim to exit
the liquor store when he approached him with a gun. The victim, a valid
concealed pistol license holder, grabbed the barrel and starting firing
shots from his own gun, police added.

The victim was trying to drive away from his home in 1800 block of 73rd Avenue near Somerset Street around 5 p.m.when he was blocked by the assailant, identified Friday as Joseph Williams, 20, of 2169 77th Ave. Williams then got out of his vehicle and, armed with a gun, began shooting, said police spokesman Sgt. Don Coppola Jr.

The 25-year-old returned fire in self-defense and was able to duck down to avoid getting shot, Coppola said in a news release. As the man accelerated to get out of the area, Williams was hit by the car. The driver then stopped to call police.

At 6:43 p.m. Friday, a 34-year-old man engaged in a verbal altercation with an unknown woman. The 34-year-old eventually pulled out a knife and struck the woman. The woman's father, 28-year-old Kirk Rawles, pulled out a gun and fired multiple shots, hitting the 34-year-old several times. The 34-year-old was taken to the hospital in critical condition and Rawles was arrested.

The victim had been fighting with Rawles' daughter when he pulled out
a knife and began hitting her. Rawles pulled out a gun and fired
multiple shots, police said.
The victim was transported to a local hospital in critical condition. Police arrested Rawles.

ALBUQUERQUE, N.M. — A man shot at a Southeast Albuquerque Wal-Mart as he attempted to steal a vehicle now faces burglary and assault charges, according to police.

Officers were dispatched to the Wal-Mart at San Mateo and Zuni around 4 p.m. Friday after a man called 911 and said that he shot someone who was attempting to rob him, according to a criminal complaint filed in Metropolitan Court.More Here

“The startled cubs bawled out for their mother who then came running around the corner. The woman fled into her house, but her two small dogs slipped out the open door. A fight ensued between the adult bear and the dogs, during which the woman attempted to scare the bear away. The woman’s husband arrived armed with a .22-caliber pistol and fired a single shot in the bear’s direction,” according to the Game and Fish news release.

The agency said the adult bear ran off and collapsed about 40 yards away. One of the cubs was found near the house, and the other was found in a tree.

“This is a very unfortunate incident,” Peralta said. “The homeowner reacted in defense of his dogs.”More Here

I have found only one source that corrected the headline, and that is ktvz.com, a tv station in central Oregan. It is the local station where the case occurred. They only corrected the headline and factually wrong first sentence because of complaints from people commenting at ktvz. From ktvz.com:

Man who shot Bend intruder asks lawsuit to be tossed

Here is the story from when the shooting was ruled justified, after an extensive investigation, a year ago. From ktvz.com in 2015:

Perry, then 37, shot and killed Munoz, 33, early on the morning of June
24th, 2012, after returning to his Awbrey Butte home with his
girlfriend, Amanda Weinman, of Eugene. They said they had returned to
find an intruder had kicked in the door and was asleep on the couch. A
fight ensued, and Perry said he shot the stranger in self-defense.

(snip)

Hummel said it was true Munoz was shot in the back, as his father had said, but added that Perry did so while Munoz was fighting with Weinman. "There was a bite mark on Amanda Weinman's body above her breast and some minor bruising. And Shane Munoz also had bruising and contusions throughout his body," Hummel said.

Monday, July 25, 2016

According to Nassau County Sheriff Bill Leeper, Timothy William Rasbeary, 72, died from a pistol wound early Monday morning after Rasbeary allegedly “busted out” the front door of a Yulee house where the homeowner, Christopher E. Kuches, was sleeping on the couch. Kuches pulled out a pistol and shot the intruder.

Four year ago, Kevin Perry and Amanda Weinman had arrived at Perry’s home to find Munoz, a stranger to both of them, asleep on the couch. Perry told police he grabbed a gun and shot Munoz after the intruder attacked him.

A Deschutes County District Attorney last year found Perry to be justified in the shooting.More Here

ANTIOCH -- New details have surfaced on authorities' decision not to file criminal charges in the February shooting death of a San Ramon man, but the victim's family continues to dispute that it was an act of self-defense.

Demarco Childs, 31, was shot at least four times at a Chevron gas station on Feb. 13. He died in a hospital two days later. A coroner's report released in June says Childs was shot with his own handgun, after getting into an argument with a man with whom he had a history and displaying the gun at his waistband, leading to a struggle where the other man grabbed the weapon.

BIRMINGHAM, Ala. (AP) - Police say a Birmingham woman who fatally shot her brother will not be charged.

Birmingham Police homicide Sgt. John Tanks tells Al.com (http://bit.ly/2aj4kGc ) on Friday that the woman used self-defense in the shooting death of 24-year-old Anthony Lamar Peck. Police say the shooting occurred July 15 after a domestic dispute between the siblings.More Here

A neighbor from Wisconsin had a DGU in Racine. His family and mine were only a half mile apart in rural Wisconsin while he was growing up. That is a close neighbor in the area. I spoke to him over the phone about the incident. He disires anonymity.

On Thursday, July 14th, after getting off of work at 4 p.m., he drove his mother in law to a local Shopko to pick up a prescription. His son came along to do a little shopping. My former neighbor was driving a Ford crew-cab F150. He dropped off his mother in law and son, then drove to a spot a little away from other vehicles. There he could watch the doors for when his son and mother in law came out. This put him a bit closer to a plasma purchasing center than to the Shopco. It was 86 degrees and breezy, so both windows were open. He turned off the truck, and started to read his kindle.

Loud rap music alerted him to a vehicle two parking spots behind him. A quick glance in the mirror showed two black men in a beat up Toyota sedan. The passenger got out of the sedan and started to walk toward my neighbor's F150. The passenger was wearing a white, "wife beater" t-shirt. The driver had a skull cap on. My neighbor reached under the folded down console, retrieved a Ruger SR22, and rested it on top of the console, in his hand. It would not be visible unless you were looking in the window.

The driver of the Toyota pulled up to within six inches of the F150's driver's door, blocking that exit. As my neighbor saw the driver look past him, he turned to look to his passenger side window.

The Toyota's passenger had arrived there. As the passenger looked inside, through the open window, he saw the SR22 in my neighbor's hand. A forced grin appeared on his face, as he said, "hey.." and walked 15 feet in in front of the F150.

The Toyota driver drove forward, the passenger got back in, and they screeched out of the parking lot, onto the highway, heading toward a not so nice part of town.

The tag on the Toyota was an illegible paper dealer tag or a facsimile thereof.

My neighbor said that he had remained very calm throughout the 30 seconds that it took for this event to transpire. Then, as the adrenaline reaction set in, he started shaking. This is a common occurrence after a DGU.

He has a concealed carry permit and carries regularly. The SR22 belongs to his wife, who also has a CCW. It was in the truck because she works at a school, and cannot take it on school property, so that day it had been placed in the truck with him.

To show how far political correctness has driven us, when I asked for the descriptions of the Toyota's driver and passenger, he was hesitant to identify them as black. He did not wish to be accused of racism.

He would rather be in northern Wisconsin where he grew up, but you go where there is work.

I have no doubt that the Toyota driver and passenger intended to commit a nasty criminal act. You do not drive so close to a driver's door so as to block the exit in the normal course of events, while your partner approaches the passenger side.

Nothing was reported to the police. My former neighbor wanted to avoid problems. No crime had been committed.

The description of two slender black males of average height, one wearing a skull cap, the other a wife beater t-shirt, in a beat up and rusty Toyota sedan, is not very definitive.

Just another defensive display that almost certainly stopped a violent crime. Nothing for the news, here.

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Background

“The strongest reason for the people to retain the right to keep and bear arms is, as a last resort, to protect themselves against tyranny in government.” -- Thomas Jefferson

Syndicated columnist Charley Reese (1937-2013): "Gun control by definition affects only honest people. When a politician tells you he wants to forbid you from owning a firearm or force you to get a license, he is telling you he doesn’t trust you. That’s an insult. ... Gun control is not about guns or crime. It is about an elite that fears and despises the common people."

The rifle itself has no moral stature, since it has no will of its own. Naturally, it may be used by evil men for evil purposes, but there are more good men than evil, and while the latter cannot be persuaded to the path of righteousness by propaganda, they can certainly be corrected by good men with rifles -- Jeff Cooper (1920-2006)

Note for non-American readers: Crime reports from America which describe an offender just as a "teen" or "teenager" almost invariably mean a BLACK teenager.

We are advised to NOT judge ALL Muslims by the actions of a few lunatics, but we are encouraged to judge ALL gun owners by the actions of a few lunatics.

Two lines below of a famous hymn that would be incomprehensible to Leftists today ("honor"? "right"? "freedom?" Freedom to agree with them is the only freedom they believe in)

First to fight for right and freedom,
And to keep our honor clean

It is of course the hymn of the USMC -- still today the relentless warriors that they always were.

The intellectual Roman Emperor Marcus Aurelius (AD 121-180) said: "The object in life is not to be on the side of the majority, but to escape finding oneself in the ranks of the insane."

How much do you know about Trayvon Martin? Did you recognize him in the picture above? If not you may need to know more about him. It's all here (Backups here and here)

“An armed society is a polite society. Manners are good when one may have to back up his acts with his life.” -- Robert A. Heinlein

After all the serious stuff here, maybe we need a funny picture of a cantankerous cat